Thursday, 13 November 2014

#76 THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING

Written by Anthony McCarten and directed by James Marsh. 123 minutes long.

In a nutshell, the biopic of the world's most intelligent man, Sir Stephen Hawkins (Eddie Redmayne), told from his days at university, thru his diagnosis of Motor Neurone Disease, to his subsequent life married to his university sweetheart, Jane Wilde (Felicity Jones).

Beautifully acted, with an obvious Oscar worthy performance from Eddie Redmayne this is a extremely well made but strangely flat movie that never really engages. We're starved of understanding the mind trapped inside the man and it frustrating that we're given no insights into his fantastic mind or how he came to work out his, frankly, amazing theories. Presented as a whistle stop tour through his married life with the occassional stop off to deliver his latest theory or child it's a oddly unengaging experience and feels like a greatest hits compilation album rather than an intimate portrait. That said, Eddie is superb as Hawkins and it's truly painful to watch a vibrant young man slowly imprisoned inside his failing body.

Stephen Hawkins is an astonishing man and it's to this film's credit that it makes one want to learn more about him, or at least learn about the true story behind the man.